1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of device for stretching, aligning, and mounting fabric, particularly needlepoint on a suitable substrate prior to framing.
2. Description of Prior Art
Needlework and fabric art are often mounted on a mounting board and framed for display. This is generally accomplished by stretching the fabric over the board and securing it by lacing the fabric over the mounting board with needle and thread, stapling or pinning the fabric to the board, gluing the fabric to the mounting board with various types of glue, or adhering the fabric with double sided tape around the perimeter of the mounting board.
One approach known to exist but not uncovered by a patent search addresses the problem of squaring the weave of needlepoint fabric by a process called "blocking". By this method, a textile is dampened and placed on a masonite board having evenly spaced holes. Rustproof aluminum nails are used to pierce through the perimeter of the fabric and lodge in the holes of the masonite, starting at one corner of the fabric piece and working all the way around until the piece is stretched evenly and square. When it is dry, the piece should retain its shape. The negative point of this approach is that many fabrics have too delicate a weave to have nails pass through them without damage. Another negative point is that the task of transferring the blocked item to a mounting substrate and centering it before securing it is still required. Not only is that a consideration, but the fabric weave will show a scalloped configuration at each point where the nails held the fabric. This weave alignment problem must also be dealt with when stretching.
The key to stretching needlepoint is to stretch the weave of the cloth perfectly straight and square and at the same time center the image. This requires a certain degree of skill and a considerable amount of time on the part of the person doing the mounting simply because accurate alignment and centering of the needlepoint image on the mounting board is so very difficult. This difficulty was reduced by an invention by Joseph M. Frey, U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,140 (1992). His approach involved a small channel molding with a plurality of barbs or teeth that is affixed to the outside perimeter of a mounting substrate. The needlepoint textile is then stretched over the board and impaled on the teeth, repositioned countless times if needed, then secured. Although this invention took the fear out of trial and error, and one can stretch with the confidence that repeated attempts to center the image and align the weave won't damage the textile, it did not amply abbreviate the time it takes to get it right. Another point to consider when using his invention is that it does not address the circumstance in which there is not enough textile left around an image to wrap around the sides of a mounting substrate. In this instance, the edges of the board can no longer physically guide the person doing the mounting and he is left with no system of centering or alignment.